The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
I did try to see one movie repeatedly this weekend but The Boyfriend never let me finish the senten -- "I know where this is leading and I'm not seeing the new Tom Cruise!" so I'll go alone tomorrow. (What can I say? I like stunts.) But the closest subway wasn't running this weekend anyway so it was a perfect DVR & Netflix catch-up plus Smackdown-focused weekend.
Tom Cruise is in danger again. But he can survive anything with derring-do
BOX OFFICE July 31st-August 2nd estimates 01 Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation $56 NEW 02 Vacation $14.8 NEW 03Ant-Man$12.6 (cum. $132.1) Review, Podcast 04 Minions $12.2 (cum. $287.3) Tim on the Minions phenom 05 Pixels$10.3 (cum. $45.6) Review 06 Trainwreck $9.7 (cum. $79.7) Podcast 07 Southpaw $7.5 (cum. $31.5) Which Jake do you love most?, Podcast 08 Paper Towns$4.6 (cum. $23.8) 09 Inside Out$4.5 (cum. $329.5) Podcast 10 Jurassic World$3.8 (cum. $631.5) Blockbusters vs. Oscars
Unfortunately it's fugly (not Carey. She pretty). Incidentally purple and green are my favorite colors but I never like them in combo unless I'm looking at The Joker.
Film/TV Pajiba marvels that 'Tom Cruise does his own stunts' is way more than just lip service Southpaw a Featurette as Jake Gyllenhaal trains for the movie Towleroad Rob Lowe dubsmashing The Sound of Music AV Club Oscar Isaac headlines Show Me a Hero for HBO, which now has a trailer AV Club hating on Teen Wolf's current season - I'm finding the show more and more incomprehensible every year. Considering quitting The Guardian in "current weirdest movie news" Mel Gibson is now a "Creative Adviser" on a Chinese WW II epic The Bombing
Off Arts I'm really struggling to be more well rounded as a person - i only think of the arts! - so every once in awhile i must share current and extremely random items of fascination New Yorker "The Really Big One" -- this article on the fault lines in the Pacific Northwest is more terrifying than any disaster movie Slate investigates the tails of seahorses -- they're actually square unlike the traditional round
Showtune to Go I saw On the Twentieth Century a couple of weeks ago starring Kristin Chenoweth (one-of-a-kind amazing as usual) and you only have a few more days to see it (it closes on the 19th). The show was a little too manically staged for me but Chenoweth as a movie star and Andy Karl as her coattails riding actor boyfriend were both delicious and sensational and more than the sum of their parts. Unfortunately there's precious little quality video of Andy Karl online so here's a promo for his turn in "Rocky The Musical" in 2014 which seemed to prophesy the revival of that franchise - Creed coming at you soon.
For whatever reason Karl barely ever does TV or film (unlike a lot of other stage stars) so his profile is weirdly low with the general public considering he's funny, sexy, good-looking, traditionally masculine, talented and all of that. I was enraged all over again watching his extremely funny work in "On the Twentieth Century" as a narcissistic actor that Christian Borle won a generous second Tony for "Something Rotten" when his category was filled with so many better and truly inspired performances from Tony-less men (one of them even in his own show). The Emmys tendency to love the same people over and over again is much documented and groused about online, but the Tony habit of the same is even more mystifying since they're dealing with different shows and characters altogether each time. With the exception of a few people as default nominees, I'm deeply grateful that Oscar voters have somehow not inherited this usually* awful and stingy gene!
* there are people who have deserved multiple Tonys of course (Cheno, McDonald, Foster, Bernadette, etcetera). But... generally spread the wealth is a wiser and more justified impulse.
Someone needs to do a supercut of all the things Tom Cruise has hung from in his career like a daredevil, an action martyr or a human sacrifice: there've been helicopters, cliffs, glass skyscrapers, Scientology campaigns, cables, and now a big jet plane. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation has a lot to live up to now that the series improbably peaked as late as its fourth installment, Ghost Protocol.
Must Read ICYMI The Hoopla Frances McDormand suggests that looking your age is a subversive act. Great stuff. It's been great to see her face all over signage for Olive Kitteridge
More Linkage Coming Soon strange news: Christian Bale drops out of Steve Jobs biopic two weeks after taking it claims 'he's not right for the role'. Hmmmm, then why take it? CHUD the poster for Neil Blomkamp's Chappie with Hugh Jackman. It's weird and cute and hmmm. Previously TV great piece on a key scene in the awesome series Transparent (on Amazon - you must watch it if you haven't, especially if you're interested in the psychology of family dynamics or in trans issues) MNPP if you missed any episodes of Jason's "13 Phones of Halloween" now is the time to rectify that. Was your holiday good this past weekend? Towleroad Benedict Cumberbatch responds to complaints that The Imitation Game isn't as gay as its subject Dissolve JJ Abrams confirms via "thank you" letter (such manners!) that Star Wars Episode VII has wrapped filming Deadline bonafide crazy person Nicolas Winding Refn is making a female led horror film called The Neon Demon because...
One morning I woke and realized I was both surrounded and dominated by women. Strangely, a sudden urge was planted in me to make a horror film about vicious beauty"
Variety Johnny Depp performed with Marilyn Mason on Halloween MNPP [NSFW] Awww, it's Dolph Lundgren's birthday today. Remember Showdown in Little Tokyo? a Bad Movies We Love winner /Film Tom Cruise doing his own Mission Impossible stunts again like a crazy person Pajiba Taylor Kitsch "Officially" reacts to being replaced as Gambit by Channing Tatum in the forthcoming superhero movie Pop Culture Crazy thinks The Tale of Princess Kaguya is a knockout (I wish I liked this one more! I want to) Daily Mail Jamie Dornan refers to his cock as "gratuitous, graphic and ugly" when discussing what we will and won't see in 50 Shades of Grey. How could any part of him be ugly?
Exit Video ICYMI Every death in the original Star Wars trilogy. The saddest part isn't even a minute in when the body count jumps to 2 billion. Sigh, Alderaanians. We hardly knew thee.
Sunday, August 2, 2015 at 3:35PM 
Tom Cruise is in danger again. But he can survive anything with derring-do
